JB1DORHYNCHUS. 249. 



Distribution. Temperate Europe and Asia, the whole of Africa, 

 South-western Asia, India, and Ceylon. A winter visitor to 

 India, not uncommon in the north, rarer in the south, and in 

 Ceylon ; not found in Assam or Burma. 



Habits, $c. The Avocet is generally found in small flocks, 

 haunting the borders of marshes, tanks, rivers, salt lagoons, ancj 

 similar places ; it feeds on small Crustacea, worms, and molluscs, 

 and obtains its food by searching for it in the mud and sand \vith 

 its bill, which it moves backwards and forwards with a semi- 

 circular sweeping action. It swims well. 



; 



Genus IBIDORHYNCHUS, Vigors, 1831. 



A peculiar Central Asiatic species, of which the affinities are by 

 no means clearly ascertained, is the type of the present genus. 

 It has been referred by Jerdon and others to the neighbourhood of 

 the Curlews, and has been associated by Seebohm with the Oyster- 

 catchers. I do not think it is allied to the former, but it may have 

 some relationship to ffasmatopus. 



The bill is hard, long, slender, and curved downwards; the 

 nostril is linear, near the base of the bill and situated in a groove 

 that extends more than half the length of the mandible. The first 

 three quills are subequal, the 1st generally a little the longest : 

 tail rather short. Tarsi short, stout, reticulated throughout ; there 

 is no hind toe, the middle and outer toes are connected by a web, 

 but there is scarcely any between the middle and inner toes. 



1453. Ibidorhynchus struthersi. The Ibis-bill. 



Ibidorhyncha struthersii, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 174 ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 879. 

 Ibidorhynchus struthersi, Eli/th, Cat. p. 265 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1859, 



Ibis, 1882, p. 287 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 323 ; Seebohm, Charadr. 

 p. 314 ; 8karpc, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 335 ; W. W. Cordeam-, Ibis, 

 1897, p. 563. 



The Red-billed Curlew, Jerdon. 



Fig. 57. Head of I. struthersi. 



Coloration. Head to the eyes including cheeks, chin, throat, and 

 crown, terminating in a point on the nape, blackish brown, 



